Virtual Uluru: Google forced to remove virtual climb after backlash

Images from the top of Uluru have been removed from Google Maps. Photo / Google Maps

Google Maps has removed images from the summit of Uluru, meaning online visitors can no longer virtually "walk" on the rock despite the climbing ban.

Parks Australia asked the tech giant to remove the images following last year's ban on visitors scaling the monolith, which is deeply sacred to its traditional owners, the Anangu people.

Until now the Street View function still allowed people to virtually experience the controversial climb through 360-degree user-generated images taken at the top of the rock, which included images of climbers celebrating at the summit.

Images from the top of Uluru, such as this one depicting climbers celebrating at the summit, have been removed from Google Maps. Photo / Google Maps

Google Maps users can still use the Street View function to follow the tourist path around Uluru, which is permitted at the site.

A spokesperson for Parks Australia told the ABC it had "alerted Google Australia to the user-generated images from the Uluru summit that have been posted on their mapping platform".

National park rangers erect a sign marking the closure of the walking track to the summit of Uluru in the Northern Territory, October 25, 2019. Photo / Getty Images

It asked the content be immediately removed in accordance with the wishes of Anangu, Uluru's traditional owners, and the national park's Film and Photography Guidelines.

Google has confirmed it granted the request and acknowledged the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was "deeply sacred" to the Anangu people.

Uluru was closed to visitors in October last year, 34 years after the sacred site was handed back to its traditional owners.

Although signs at the base of Uluru had long asked visitors to reconsider their decision to climb, the iconic rock regularly attracted huge crowds of climbers, prompting concerns about safety and disrespect to its spiritual significance.

The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Board said in November 2017 it would close the climb for good, citing cultural and spiritual factors.

That sparked a rush of tourists who hoped to complete the climb before it was too late. Uluru saw an average of around 10,000 extra visitors a month in the six months before the October closure, and massive queues in the final days before access was shut off for good.